


The Crystal Shards

by ultraflamer500



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Awkward Flirting, F/F, F/M, Faked Death, Familiars, I have no idea what I'm doing, Kind of dying but not really, Magic, Minor Character Death, Multi, Mutual Pining, My First AO3 Post, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Please lower your expectations, Unrealistic feats of human stamina, gay cuddles, they're lesbians harold
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2020-02-27 11:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18737707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ultraflamer500/pseuds/ultraflamer500
Summary: Kalas was a regular dude until he got killed by a mage. Now he's stuck inside of his friend, and also a fire ghost? Between serial killers, god tier magic, and navigating his own emotions, just what the hell has he gotten himself caught up in?





	1. The Back It Up Trope

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why you're here, but enjoy I guess.

I’m dying. 

Dying hurts a lot. My friend is kneeling by my side, gripping my limp hand like a lifeline. She’s crying. If I didn’t have this pesky gaping hole in my chest, I’d be beating down the fool who dared to make her cry. But let’s back up a bit.

My name is Kalas, and I’m 17 years old. My bright red hair goes down to my shoulder blades, and I normally tie it up in a ponytail. I’m pretty tall and lanky, and my preferred outfit is a t-shirt and cargo shorts with sneakers. I have bad short term memory and a roulette wheel for a moral compass, and this is the story of how I died.

My day started normally enough. Wake up, get dressed and gather my school stuff, made my dad worry that I would miss the bus while eating breakfast (it was one time and the bus was ahead of schedule, _DAD_ ), and walked out the door with a quick goodbye over my shoulder to my parents. The bus showed up around its usual time, and I boarded and took my seat next to my best friend Neres.

Neres is 17 as well, with sapphire blue hair that she mostly keeps in a braid that goes down to her shoulder blades. She’s a few inches shorter than me, but stockier. Which isn’t exactly hard to do, since my ribs stay visible no matter how much junk food I eat. In this warm weather, her preferred outfit is similar to mine, but she wears hiking boots instead of sneakers. Neres has this permanent sense of responsibility, even when she’s having fun. It makes her easy to believe and trust, and I enjoy having her to ground me when my emotions decide to take a dive. 

But I’m getting distracted again. The bus ride and first half of the school day were uneventful. Come lunchtime, however, any hope of a normal day was completely obliterated.


	2. I Play a Lethal Game of Dodge ball

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing, the antagonist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still have no idea what I'm doing.

I was halfway through a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when the ceiling fell apart.

Sickly green liquid fell with chunks of plaster, hissing as it hit the floor. A girl dropped down into the cafeteria, pale green hair falling down to her waist as she stood from her landing. She stood almost as tall as Neres, but was thinner, and her expression reminded me of an angry tiger. She knew just how dangerous she was, and had come here to kill.

Someone must have pulled the fire alarm, because it started to blare through the room. The girl’s expression twitched, annoyance joining the murderous calm, and she flung her hand toward the blaring alarm. A glob of the same acid that had melted through the ceiling surged from her hand and struck the alarm, silencing it as the noisemaker was destroyed. People rushed to evacuate, but only a few got away before the girl flung literal walls of acid and directed them over to block the exits. Most of the people around me seemed to be caught between confusion and fear, but I refused to let myself panic and kept my eyes on the girl.

My fascination with fantasy was being put to use as I tried to figure out an escape. The girl was clearly an acid mage, and a skilled one based on the way she summoned and controlled entire walls of the corrosive liquid. I decided not to share the knowledge of just how easy it would be for her to kill everyone with the people around me. No need to give people even more of a reason to panic. I watched her carefully as she scanned over the crowd of students with a disinterested look that bordered on disappointment, as if she was expecting us to throw a party but not really caring who threw it. When her gaze finally landed on me, she froze.

Her expression almost seemed to shudder, as if resisting outward change, before a look of homicidal glee and greed overtook her. She pointed her palm at me, and I felt a subtle shift in the air. I shifted my weight and mentally categorized the feeling as some kind of pressure caused by magic energy building up. I felt the pressure twitch ever so slightly and bolted. 

I heard a splat followed by a hiss, and glanced backwards to see the chair that I had been standing in front of finish dissolving as the acid rapidly ate a deep hole into the floor. I heard someone mutter a swear word before everything turned into chaos. I had to keep running backwards and flinging myself around to avoid becoming soup. Most of the other students realized that I was her main target, and fled, pulling their less bright friends along with them. 

As I struggled to survive, a bad idea made itself present in my head. With nothing else to go on, I rolled with it and started to dodge more strategically, making a path towards a wall that separated the cafeteria from the outside. Once I hit the wall, I jumped slightly and kicked off of it, sending myself sideways and avoiding the acid that had been aimed at me. The acid shot melted through the wall easily and left a hole to the outside. I kept dodging left and right, ducking down every now and then. Between the panic and the adrenaline, I lost count of how much dodging I had to do. Finally, I heard the sound of rock collapsing behind me. With barely any time to think, and no time to look behind me, I jumped backwards as hard as I could. 

My feet just barely cleared the rubble, and I landed on the stable ground instead of in a hole of acid. I turned and fled into the hoard of students that had evacuated when the fire alarm went off, and managed to lose her in the crowd. Looking back, attempting to take cover in a crowd when she had already managed to single me out in a packed cafeteria wasn’t the wisest decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On one hand, I'm worried that someone will hate it and make me lose my desire to write the story.
> 
> On the other hand, I'll probably burn myself out long before then.


	3. Local Man Refuses Death, Develops Superpowers Instead, More at 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally caught up to the present. Where I die.
> 
> And then I don't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can feel myself slowly losing all hope for the future. Good thing I already know how to function without it.

I wove through the swarm of students as quickly as I could. Neres was out here somewhere. I could only hope that she was safe. Just as I was beginning to think that I had escaped, the acid mage landed in front of me, shadows resembling wings fading from her back. I was going to ask what exactly the heck just happened, but my attention was suddenly occupied by the feeling of acid melting through my flesh and internal organs.

I heard Neres scream as I fell backwards. I hit the ground, and a few seconds later she was kneeling at my side, clutching my hand. Now that we’re all caught up, I’m going to resume dying. The pain is making everything look red and hazy. I can hear laughter from the direction of the acid girl. She’s saying something, but I’m in too much pain to listen.

My senses are shutting down. I can’t see or feel my body anymore, but I can feel something tugging on my consciousness. I wish I had magic. Then I could have flown away, or hid underground, or turned my body into fire. 

The tug on my mind is pulsing now. I think I might be about to die. Shouldn’t dying hurt? I don’t feel any pain. I can even feel my body again, and hear the acid girl laughing, and my eyes are closed.

My eyes are closed. I open them. 

I can see again. 

Neres is staring at my chest with shock. The acid girl has stopped laughing. I look down at where the hole in my chest is supposed to be. Instead of seeing my internal organs, I see fire. Bright orange fire that suddenly goes out, leaving perfectly healthy skin showing through the bloodstained hole in my shirt. 

Neres moves away as I sit up. As I stand, I hear the acid girl sputtering in confusion. “What the… How?” 

I glare at her, my voice dripping with rage. “If it’s any consolation, you did ruin my shirt. You’re going to pay for that.” I feel new energy thrumming within my skin. Mentally, I grab the energy in my hands and twist. 

The acid girl’s expression of shock melts away into a warrior’s scowl as my hands become pure flames. An animalistic snarl twists its way onto my face. “I’m going to enjoy watching you burn,” I growl, and lunge at her, flames surging up my forearms. She glares, coats her hands in acid, and meets my charge with her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: When will God release me from this mortal coil.
> 
> Also me: Death is a little bitch and I shall continue to spite it.


	4. Ok Google: I Am Stuck Inside Of My Friend's Head, What Next

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whenever you find yourself in a new situation, there's always a learning curve.
> 
> Mine happens to hurt a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that I am back from my first week at my new job in Nevada, I can finally finish this chapter.
> 
> Luckily only three people have read this, so no one was kept waiting.

She swings her right fist at my head, and I shift to the left. Her fist brushes past my head as I continue forward, swinging my right hand at her stomach.

She forcefully pivots to the left and uses the momentum to swing her right fist around in a backhand. I duck under her swing and pounce forward, swinging my weight to turn around in midair. She’s already charging me as I land, and I move back a few steps to avoid a right hook before sending a right jab at her face.

She shifts to the right, moving her head out of the path of my fist, and I throw a left jab at her stomach as quickly as I can. She makes a pained noise and leaps backward, flinging a glob of acid at me to keep me from following. My right eye snaps shut automatically, and the acid makes direct contact with my face. 

I feel the energy thrum, and hear the acid land on the ground behind me. The energy buzzing in my head diminishes, and I open my right eye. 

I can still see out of it. My face is not dissolving. 

Suddenly, I feel a shift in my body. It was as though the cells in my body decided that being solid was no longer cool, and had decided to become gas instead. 

I started to panic. Was I really dying? I didn’t want to die. I just wanted to be safe.

The sensations in my body change abruptly again. Instead of dispersing, there was now a fishing hook in my body, and the line was being reeled in by a speedboat engine. I start to glow red as I’m yanked through the air, and I fly into Neres.

And by “fly into her,” I mean my glowing body was absorbed into hers on contact. I blink, and find myself staring at a white ceiling.

I take in my new surroundings as I get off the floor. The room is just a white box with a door. With nothing better to do, I decide to explore.

The door opens into a hallway with several other doors. Each door has a label, and I read them as I walked by. I quickly walk past the doors labeled “Neres’ Memory,” “Neres’ Thoughts,” and “Neres’ Emotions”. I’m not touching those with a ten-foot pole. 

The third door, labeled “Neres’ Shards,” is more confusing and also probably less dangerous. Still, I open it with caution.

My fear falls away as I take in the contents of the room. It’s another white box room, but this one is filled with floating shards that look like they were broken off of some kind of huge crystals.

I walk over to the nearest shard and hesitantly bring my hand up to touch it. The sensation of metal twisting to my will floods through me. I yank my hand back in shock, and the sensation vanishes. Okay, so that’s a metal magic shard. I walk over and touch one of the two brown shards. I feel mountains snap in half, and pull away sharply. That’s an earth shard. I turn to one of the four light blue shards and reach out. A snowstorm tears into my mind the second I touch it, and I leap backward. Ice shard. 

The next shard is different. While the other shards were solid colors and floated as though they were underwater, this red shard has a multicolored galaxy pattern swirling inside of it. Tossing my self-preservation aside, I place my hand on it. Nothing happens at first, but after a few seconds, I realize that the shard is pulsing with the same magic that’s in my body. 

This is me. 

This is a Soul Shard. 

I yank my hand back at that knowledge. What the hell is a Soul Shard, and why do those words feel so heavy? A deep blue color at the edge of my vision interrupts my panic. 

That is a very large crystal. 

The galaxy pattern inside identified it as a Soul Shard, but it couldn’t just be a Soul Shard. It’s way too big. Having no other way to gather information as of yet, I walk over and place my hand on it. 

Knowledge floods my mind in an unforgiving deluge, and my legs give out from under me from the mental strain. I lay on the floor for a few minutes, slowly letting my mind heal and processing the information that I just acquired. 

This is Neres’ soul crystal. Her Soul Shard had fused with the water shards that she had collected. She has collected around fifty-three water shards, including her Soul Shard, which means that she can use water magic in roughly fifty-three different ways. 

Compared to my level of being able to turn my body into fire, she’s basically a goddess. No wonder she’s on a swim team, she could just propel herself through the water with magic. 

Once I recovered, I got up and left the Shard room. I freeze in shock when I see the hallway. The previously white walls are now blue, with seafoam green patterns on them that look like ocean waves. 

I look around, but nothing else has changed. Deciding that there is nothing I can really do but move on, I walk down to the last room, with the label “Commons” on the door. This is probably where I was supposed to go in the first place, so I go in. 

It looks like a generic living space at first glance. I notice a couple of couches and a floating TV screen. What the screen shows instantly grabs my attention. It shows an image of what I’m pretty sure is the real world. 

Neres is there, staring down at her chest where I must have entered. I can also see the poison girl staring at Neres. Nothing is moving on the screen, so I walk up to it to take a closer look. There is a tab in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, and one of the buttons is labeled “0.01”. 

I realize that this is a screen that shows me what’s going on outside of wherever I am, which is probably some kind of magical storage space inside of Neres. This screen must also control how fast or slow time moves in this space when compared to the real world. “0.01” means that for every second here, one-hundredth of a second passes in the real world.

Hesitantly, I reach out and tap the middle of the screen. 

Nothing. I sigh in relief. Those last times hurt. It also means that I have to figure out how to work this on my own. 

More confident now that I know that I’m not going to be hurt, I tap on the “0.01” button. A bar drops down from the button, showing several other numbers. I go through the list until I find the “1” option, and tap it. 

Instantly, the screen speeds up to match the speed of the real world. Neres is staring at herself, holding her sternum, which is where I must have hit her. She raises her head, and I stare for a second at her expression. She looks resigned, but also a little excited. 

Looking right at the acid girl, she quickly schools her expression into a challenging smirk. 

“Here we go again, Selcir. Try not to fail this time.” 

I snicker at the taunt as portals appear under each of the girls. Neres falls through her blue portal, and just like that, everything I knew growing up is gone, left behind as Neres unintentionally drags me into another world. 

Much later down the line, I would look back at my old life and laugh at how simply I had lived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so goddam tired. Why can't I just make money by sleeping? That would be so much easier.


	5. Annoyances Will Follow You, Even to Another Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A group of bandits thinks that a lone girl will be an easy target.
> 
> They find out that not only is she not easy, she's also not alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HHHHhhholy FUCK do I hate writer's block.
> 
> This chapter took literal months because the fight scene wouldn't come to me. But here it is.

Some people might hear about a portal trip to a different world and think ‘Cool! That sounds awesome!’ 

Those people would be wrong. It’s really just falling for about a minute. Of course, it doesn’t stay boring, but that doesn’t mean that it gets fun. 

The portal spits Neres, and by extension me, out about a hundred feet from the ground. I panic pretty much immediately, but I guess Neres is used to this because she shoots out a huge stream of water from her body right at the ground. The pressure from the stream slows her lethal plummet to a much more controlled descent.

Of course, nothing is ever that easy, which is clearly a rule of the multiverse. 

A few seconds after Neres lands, a group of men show up in what seems to be bandit gear. Some kind of leather armor, darkly colored. Strangely, each one has a glowing shard image in their body. 

I guess I can see shards now? 

I count two ice shards, two earth shards, and seven fire shards. I assume that the last guy is the leader, since he has two fire shards instead of one like the rest of the thugs. 

As soon as I finish processing this, something within me growls. An overwhelming surge of greed rushes through me, and it takes all of my focus to squash it down. 

I want those fire shards. Now. 

I look back at the screen, and Neres seems calm, if not confident. She holds up her hands, with her palms pointed at one fire shard and one earth shard. Spheres of water form at her palms before shooting at the bandits. The spheres impact their heads and, somehow, knock them out from the force. I guess there must be some spell at work there to make the water more solid and impact with more force. 

The nearest bandit throws a fireball at her, but Neres sidesteps it easily. Two streams of color, red and brown, shoot from the downed bandits and into Neres as she fires another water sphere in retaliation. The three nearest bandits, two ice and one fire, charge her. She takes out the fire bandit with another well-aimed ball of water as the downed bandit’s fire shard flies into her. 

The two ice bandits make an attempt to flank her as the most recent fire shard is claimed. Neres flicks her arms outward and waves surge from her body, impacting both bandits at once and leaving them out cold on the ground. The two ice shards shoot into her as she turns her attention towards the four remaining bandits. 

I don't want to sit here uselessly while Neres gets attacked. I want to help! 

My head snaps back and my back arches as information slams into my head again. Through some instinct that I know I didn't have a few minutes ago, my hand snaps forward, hits the screen, and swipes downward fast. When the pain subsides, I notice that the speed button is back to "0.01". Well, I guess that’s a thing now. 

Regardless, I know how to help now. I whip around and rush back to the entrance hallway. The door at the other end, which I had come from originally, is now labeled “exit,” but something pulls me toward the shard room. 

I stop for a second when I see what floats in front of me. The fire shards, instead of floating around like the others, have attached themselves to my soul shard. The instant I register this, a wave of disorientation washes over me. 

When I finally steady myself, new powers are sitting in my head, waiting to be tested. Well, that was much less unpleasant than the other times. A feral grin spreads across my face, and I bolt for the "exit" door. 

The once plain white room is now yellow along the floor and ceiling, with purple walls and greenish geometric patterns twisting around the room. A round silver platform sits in the middle of the room, and I jump onto it. I, for lack of better term, will myself to appear nearby Neres, and feel myself dissolve into the transition. 

I land and take a second to look around. The remaining bandits look shocked, and Neres uses the distraction to knock out one of the fire bandits. That kicks them back into fight or fight mode, and the earth bandit lifts a chunk of ground and throws it at me. 

I sidestep out of habit before calling on my new powers to summon a ball of solid fire to my palm and throw it. The earth bandit must be someone who only attacks from a distance, because he just stands there and takes my fireball to his face. He passes out, and I turn to see Neres finish off the other fire bandit. Two beams shoot into Neres, which confuses me for about half a second before I realize that my victories must count as hers, since she's the only one with a shard room.

The presumed leader looks down at us from his perch and summons two swords of fire to his hands. My feral grin stretches wider as I turn my right arm into a sword of solid fire. He leaps down and charges me, bringing his right sword around. I duck his horizontal slash and use my sword arm to parry his attempted low jab with his left sword. 

He swings his right sword at me again, and I jump over the slash, propelling myself above his head with a burst of fire from my feet. I bring my sword arm down, but he parries with his left sword, and I push off of him into the air again. He turns around to face me, and I watch both his blades to see what I will have to do next. 

Instead, a ball of water crashes into his head, and he falls over unconscious. I hit the ground, turn to Neres and shift my grin from feral to cheerful, and she smiles and walks towards me. 

“Not bad for your first real fight,” she says, lightly punching me on the shoulder. 

“Thanks. You really kicked ass out there,” I respond. I blink as I feel a drop of rain hit my nose. “Oh no.” 

“What?” “It’s about to start raining. I just felt a drop.” I look at her with an embarrassed grin. “Do you mind if I hide inside you until it stops raining?” Neres rolls her eyes, but laughs. “Sure. See you soon, hot stuff.” 

I blink as my face heats up. Hot stuff? Since when does she call me that? I have just enough time to notice that her cheeks are slightly pink before the sensation of a fishing hook catching my skeleton yanks me upwards and I dissolve into the transition. 

I lie on the floor for a few minutes as two thoughts make themselves present in my head. One, I really need to come up with a name for shifting between this place and outside. Two, Neres looks really cute when she blushes. 

Well, I’m not getting anything else done by lying here. I pull myself up, walk down to the Commons, and flick the screen back to normal speed before flinging myself haphazardly onto the couch. 

Neres looks around for a minute before setting off in what is probably a random direction. As I had predicted, it starts to rain a few minutes later. 

Neres is probably getting soaked, but she doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, she starts to jog instead of walk once the storm gets fully underway. I was confused for a full five minutes before I realized. 

Rain is water. Neres is a skilled water mage. 

She is probably absorbing the water that hits her and turning it into energy. Hopefully, that means that she doesn’t need to eat, because I don’t see any way for us to get food, unless we want to turn back, kill the unconscious bandits, and resort to cannibalism. 

I don’t know how long I just sat there and watched her jog in the downpour, but eventually she started to slow down and look around at the landscape, as though searching for something. After a few minutes of searching, she finds a small, shallow cave with a pool of water at the back that's being fed by the storm. 

She picks a spot that is slightly hidden from the entrance, lays down, and falls asleep. I elect myself to night watch, since I don’t need to eat or sleep, and keep my eyes on the cave entrance. After all, I still want many answers, and having her owe me for a night of safety might come in handy, though I probably won’t need the leverage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that I actually keep enough motivation to write another chapter soon.
> 
> God I can't wait to go to sleep, and I haven't even done anything all day.


	6. The Obligatory Lore Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neres has to teach me everything.
> 
> This is slightly less degrading than I thought something like this would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I can't believe that I actually got this out.
> 
> Can't WAiT for writer's block to rear its ugly head again.

I really need to find some way to keep track of time in here. My own sense of time is skewed, because my brain just doesn’t work that way, but I should probably get a watch or something.

Anyway, I stared at the screen for what was probably several hours, with no real threats appearing. When I got bored of watching the exit, I would just watch Neres sleep for a while. Which, I admit, is probably creepy, but it’s not like there was anything else to look at in this cave.

Finally, hours after the storm has passed, Neres begins to stir. I decide that means I should head out now, so I switch the time back to 0.01 and head to the “exit” room. Hopping onto the platform, I will myself out, and end up a few feet away from Neres, so I plop myself on the ground, leaning up against the cave wall.

After what was probably only a few minutes, she sits up with a groan. “Gods, I forgot just how awful sleeping on the ground is.” She looks around, and her eyes finally land on me. She startles a bit, but then blinks and shakes her head.

“Okay. So this is actually happening, and not some weird fever dream,” she mutters. She looks at me, and her apologetic expression is almost sad. “You know, I had a notebook for when this happened. Wrote down as much as I could to explain things. I wish I had brought it to school, but right now it’s sitting back at the house I was staying in.”

I nod. “Well, at least you tried,” I say to her, my tone conveying my acceptance of her apology. She sighs, be it from relief or the last vestiges of sleep I don’t know. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to try. What do you want to know first?”

I think about this for a second. What do I want to know first? There are so many questions, I don’t know where to begin. Finally, I come to a decision.

“Let’s start with the basics. What the hell am I?” Neres smiles, maybe to reassure me. “You are called a familiar. Effectively a magic ghost. When you were killed, you were instead absorbed into your soul shard. When that soul shard was added to my shard collection, you became my familiar.” She pauses to let me take in what she just said.

Ok, so I died, turned into a magic crystal shard, and got picked up like a quarter on the street. I look up at her and nod, signaling her to continue. 

“It’s a pretty rare occurrence, actually. At least, it was when I was here last. Anyway, as my familiar, you’re bound to me until I manage to release you. That means that wherever I go, and whatever I do, you’re going to have to follow. I don’t think that you can go a set distance from me either.”

She pauses to collect her thoughts. “Your soul shard is fire element, so you can only use fire magic, and your hair is now just made of fire, although it seems to be staying in shape somehow.” I reach back and feel at my hair, surprised to find it still tied back despite being nothing but flames.

“Any fights you win count as my victory, and the spoils go to me automatically,” Neres continues. “In order to free you from being bound to me, we need to collect Ninety-nine fire shards. Also, you’re stuck with shard sight until you get freed.” Neres stops talking, waiting for me to catch up. 

It takes me a minute, but finally I look away from the floor and back to Neres. “Shard sight,” I ask her. She nods, “A magically induced addition to your vision. It allows you to see how many shards someone has, and of what element. It’s often seen as an invasion of privacy to use it casually, so most people don’t unless they’re going to fight.” 

I nod and ask “Ninety-nine fire shards?” Neres flinches, and my anxiety rises from the depths of my mind. “If you have a soul shard and ninety-nine shards of the same element, it forms what’s known as a full crystal. Full crystal mages have no limit to the extent of their elemental magic. Because of this…,” Neres hesitates for a moment.

“Full crystal mages are often hunted down and killed, because that much power scares people. So even if you do get free, you’ll be murdered for being too powerful.” 

She finishes talking, and I stare at her in horror. I only just managed to cheat death once by sheer fortune, but now my only choices are to spend my life as a glorified pet, or free myself only to be slaughtered for possessing power? How is that fair? I just want to live. 

My focus narrows down to the floor of the cave as I slowly descend into panic. I’m going to die. I’m going to die or be trapped forever. I’ll never- 

Neres slaps me. 

I look over at her to see her eyes watering. “You don’t have to worry. I would never let them kill you.” Oh gods I’m whipped. Just a single sentence and all of my fears disappear. I smile at her, and she does her best to return it. 

“Okay, moving on,” I say abruptly, eager to change the subject. “Where are we?” 

Neres nods. “The continent is called Ardinoll. It’s split into four kingdoms, Sartip in the East, Viksper in the North, Krolinth in the South, and Rentespik in the West.” I nod and ask, “So which kingdom did we land in?”

“No idea,” Neres states with absolute confidence. I shake my head fondly. “Of course you don’t. So what are we looking for?” 

Neres smirks confidently. “Any sign of civilization. Roads, buildings, smoke, anything to give us an idea of where we are.” I nod. “Good. I’ll ask you other things as they crop up.” I give her a thumbs up and warp back into… huh. I don’t think I ever gave this place a proper name.

I think I’ll call it home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't expect good things from me in the future.
> 
> Or just expect disappointment. Either one works.


	7. The Obligatory Lore Chapter's Younger Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you're in a new situation, you always want to find out more about it.
> 
> Now with nothing else to do, I turn my attention to my new home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New job, new style of life, and somehow I'm writing more than before.
> 
> I am just as confused as you all, but at least I have something.

I walk back into the Commons and take a good look around, actually taking in the area for the first time.

Aside from the two couches and the… huh. I guess I’m going to be naming a lot of things today. I’ll call it the Real Screen. Anyway, those were in the left corner of the room across from me. 

Turning my gaze directly to my right, I notice a few bookshelves, along with a pair of floating screens, each paired with a floating holographic keyboard. I turn my gaze to the last corner of the room. The only things there are a random bookshelf and an armchair with a floating screen in front of it. Deciding that the big library looking corner can wait, I walk over to the opposite corner of the room. Several of the books on the bookshelf have strange titles, or just lack titles outright, so I go over to the armchair and sit down. 

Instantly, the screen in front of me lights up with several different options. The top option, “Rooms”, seems interesting, so I tap it. The screen switches to a top-down view of my new home’s layout. Nothing else pops up to tell me what to do, so I guess from here it’s trial and error. 

Each room has a bit of text that says what it is. Looking through my options, I put my finger on the room labeled “exit” and drag. The room image moves with my finger, and I drag it over to the big room labeled “Commons” and take my finger away. A _Thunk_ sounds from my right, making me snap my head towards the sound on instinct, and see a new door labeled “exit” sitting next to one of the couches.

Oh, no way. 

I jog over and open the door. The same platform greets me. By the Ancients, the screen must be the master control system for the entire magical storage space! Intrigued, I walk back to the chair and sit down. Looking on the screen, I see a hallway labeled “Kalas”. That must be my mental hallway, just like Neres’. I disconnect both mental hallways and drag mine over to where Neres’ hallway is. I tap on the empty space nearby, and a new empty square pops up. I drag it over to connect to the Commons, and hear a _Thunk_ from my left. Glancing over, I see an unlabeled door. 

I drag the two hallways to connect to the new room on either side. I tap the new room, and several options pop up. Scanning them, I find the option for “Title” and select it. A holographic keyboard appears in front of me, and a text box shows up on the screen. I name the room “Mind halls” and save it, getting up and returning to the Real Screen. Glancing over as I pass, the door is now labeled “Mind halls” just as I wanted. 

I drop onto a couch and watch Neres travel. After a while, at least an hour probably, Neres stops. I feel confused, because there’s still nothing around that I can see yet. 

Suddenly, Neres snaps her fingers, the exit door glows bright white, and I’m abruptly yanked from my seat into the exit doorway. I dissolve into the warp, and land flat on my back next to Neres.

“Ow,” I say, more to state my annoyance than from any actual pain. Neres chuckles a little as I get up. “So you can just summon me whenever you want?” Neres nods. “It takes some concentration,” she says, “but yeah.” 

“Well, what do you need? You wouldn’t pull me out for no reason,” I say. “That’s not true,” she protests. I raise an eyebrow at her. “But you do need something from me?” She slumps ever so slightly. 

“Yeah. I need you to get above the tree line to see if you can see any signs of civilization.” I nod, building flames in my legs and feet. “As you wish, my lady,” I quip before releasing the fire in my legs and launching myself straight upwards. 

Clearing the trees, I look first in the direction that Neres was already going in. I see small trails of smoke coming up through the trees, so there is something that way. Hopefully not a forest fire. Adjusting my leg position, I let out a small burst of fire to spin in place, and glance around to see if there are any closer places. Seeing nothing besides more trees, I warp back into my home, then warp right back out to Neres. 

I give a mock salute as I land. “Reporting for duty, Ma’am.” Neres just rolls her eyes, but she’s still smiling, so I count this as a win for me. Dropping my arm, I point in the direction she was already going. “There are a few small smoke trails that way. Could be from a settlement, or from a small forest fire. Either way, we should check it out.” 

Neres nods determinedly, and I warp back Home as Neres resumes walking. One way or another, something is about to change. I can’t help but hope that it will be for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think? Feel free to comment and tell me.
> 
> Or don't. I certainly can't tell you what to do.
> 
> See you all next time I actually manage to write.


	8. Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am thoroughly embarrassed.
> 
> And then I find out someone faked their death.
> 
> You could say that the past few days haven't been easy for me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have achieved.
> 
> Be proud.
> 
> I shall now slam my head through a wall, because forcing myself to keep writing is starting to give me brain ache.
> 
>  
> 
> Holy shit I just realized how much longer this one is compared to the others.

It takes a little while to reach the source of the smoke. If I had to guess, I’d say it was about thirty minutes.

Neres breaks through the trees to see a village, with maybe twenty buildings total. She begins to walk around, looking for anyone. Soon enough she runs into a villager.

“Hello,” she greets. The villager, a dark-skinned adult male, smiles and nods at her as he hauls his cart of vegetables. When it becomes clear that the man is not going to speak, Neres continues. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m a bit lost. Could you tell me what town this is, and which kingdom it’s in?” 

The man studies her for a second, probably taking in how unkempt she looks from days of travel. Finally, he nods and speaks. “This is Firpust. In North Krolinth, near the border of Sartip.” Neres smiles and thanks him. He nods in response, then goes back to hauling his cart. 

Neres continues past him, looking around at the buildings to keep her bearings. Eventually, she goes around behind a building, drops to her stomach, and crawls a little way into the foundation of the building. She shuffles around for a bit before crawling back out, dragging a small sack with her. 

I’m confused. How did she know it was down here? She reaches into the sack and pulls out a smaller sack, which she puts into her pocket. Throwing the sack over her shoulder, she walks around to the front of the building and goes in. 

Once she goes inside, it becomes clear that the building is an inn of some sort. Neres walks up to the woman manning the counter and requests a room for the day. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out what look like silver coins, passing them to the woman and receiving a key with a number attached to it.

Neres thanks her and walks up a floor and past a few rooms before coming to the door that matches her key. She walks inside, locking the door behind her.

She tosses the sack onto the bed and starts to pull her shirt off. I blush and whip around, leaping over the couch and crouching down behind it. Does she not know that I can see her? Did she just forget?

Her abs look really nice—no! Bad Kalas! No perverted thoughts!

I stay behind the couch until I hear Neres drop onto the bed. I rise slowly, just about to peek over the couch when Neres snaps her fingers, the exit door flashes, and I land on the floor next to the bed, this time on my feet.

I slowly stand and look over. Neres is sitting up on the bed and looking at me.

And wearing cargo pants and a sports bra.

She really is hot—I let out an undignified squeak and whip around, my face bright red. Neres laughs at my reaction. “Oh my gods that was better than I imagined!”

I hear rustling from behind me, and Neres abruptly grabs my shoulder and spins me around before I can close my eyes. Neres has changed into a loose t-shirt. My face does not turn less red.

“Why must you do this to me,” I groan. Neres just gives me a cheeky grin. “So, quick question,” she says. “Are those actual clothes or are they just part of your fire body magic?”

I blink in surprise and look down at myself. Instead of my shirt still having a bloody hole in it, I’m now wearing a completely different t-shirt, this one red with flame patterns. Leaning forward slightly, I see that my cargo shorts are now black, though my shoes remain the same. I reach out with my senses, and find out that I can feel the clothes as part of my fire body magic. “Huh. Yeah, they’re fire body. Why?”

“Well, you should probably change them. The clothing in Ardinoll is way different than the clothing that you’re used to.” I tilt my head in confusion. “How different?” Neres rolls her eyes, grabs her sack, and snaps her fingers. I'm yanked back Home and walk out into the Commons. I glance at the Real Screen and immediately snap my head in the opposite direction.

That is way too much skin for me to be seeing yet, especially through the screen instead of her intentionally showing me. I walk over to my hiding space behind the couch and crouch down.

She's wearing blue—NO! I slam my head against the ground. No perverted thoughts! I stay down there for a while. After a while, I hear a door open and shut from the Real Screen.

After a few seconds, I hear a snap, and I’m summoned to Neres’ side. I land on my feet, trying not to let her know that I had been hiding behind a couch. I look up to see that, thankfully, she is completely dressed.

She's wearing what I can only describe as leather armor, but adapted to be easier to put on and take off. It protects a little less on the sides, but probably makes up for it by being more usable in daily life. She has a similar setup for her lower body, guarding her down to her knees.

“Well,” Neres prompts, “feel like an outfit change?” I think for a minute, and decide to be petty. I force the clothing layer to shift.

I let the fire spin around me, revealing as much of my skin as I can. I watch Neres’ expression, but she seems totally calm, despite how showy I’m being. Slightly disappointed, I focus on my new outfit.

I settle on something similar to Neres, loosely based on typical leather armor, to make sure I blend in somewhat, though the fire hair will probably make that difficult. The new layer settles over me, and I shuffle a little to get used to the new shape. “Well, how do I look?”

Neres gets up and walks around me. Having completed her observation, she nods. “It looks good for something that you made up on the spot.” I scoff a bit, I’m proud of my work! Neres just smirks. “Ok, hot-shot, I’m going to sleep now.” She snaps her fingers before I can react, and I land on my butt in the exit room.

I get up and walk to the Commons to take up my position as night watch. I stop in my tracks as I look at the Real Screen.

Neres’ face is bright red. After a second, she launches herself onto the bed, hiding her face in the pillow, and starts to, for lack of a better term, wiggle in embarrassment.

I stumble over to the couch and drop onto it. Oh gods, she’s too cute, my poor heart can't handle it.

Eventually, she stops moving and likely falls asleep, because she doesn't get up after that. Nothing happens during the night. I mostly zoned out, only coming back to myself when Neres starts to stir.

I walk to the exit and warp out, materializing next to her bed. Neres yawns as she lifts herself off of the bed. She looks at me and startles slightly, but quickly relaxes. She looks around at the room and gets up, grabbing her sack.

"So, what are we doing today," I ask. "We're headed to Sartip," Neres says, "I have something to do in a town there." I nod, and she snaps her fingers. I'm warped back Home, and go to my couch in the Commons to keep watch.

Neres walks out of the room and returns the key to the lady at the counter, then leaves and starts walking down a dirt road. I assume that she knows where she's going now, and not that she's just looking for a more populated road. She walks for a while, and we eventually end up surrounded by trees.

Unexpectedly, a girl steps out from behind a tree into the middle of the road ahead of us. Neres stops short, and the other girl slowly approaches. I get ready to leap off of the couch to join the fight, but freeze when I take a closer at the girl.

I--I recognize her! What? How? I—she shouldn’t be here. She died! She and her girlfriend died while out driving! I know it! There wasn’t even anything left to bury! I went to her funeral, I wept at her grave! So how is she here?

I try to calm down, it's probably just someone who looks like her. Then, her entire posture seems to brighten, and she calls out, "Hey Neres!" I feel like I've been punched in the face, but Neres just raises an arm in greeting and calls out, "Hey Rika! How have you been?"

There was no more doubt in my mind. Her voice, her attitude, the way she moves, it's her! But how? How is Rika alive? I—I mourned her for months! And she was just here? The whole time? Why does Neres know her, they barely spoke! How? How!?

Tears well up in my eyes as I stare at the screen. But there is no doubting it. This is Rika, the girl who was my honorary sister back home. She and her girlfriend were supposed to have been thrown clear of their car when it was sideswiped by a speeding car and veered into the woods. The car was eventually found, completely destroyed, but no bodies were ever recovered.

I collapse back into the couch in shock. She was really alive. I don't know what to do. Neres and Rika are talking, but I can't focus enough to hear them. Abruptly, Rika seems nervous. I shake my head a bit to clear it. Emotions later, information now.

"So," Rika says, and oh god it hurts to hear her voice again. "Do you have any spare shadow shards?" Neres looks just as guarded. "Unfortunately not. Speaking of which, do you have any fire shards that you don't need?"

Rika shakes her head. “Unfortunately not. Why would you even need them…” Rika stiffens and looks at Neres with unusual severity, “unless they weren’t for you.”

Neres nods. “And you wouldn’t be trying to get shadow shards for yourself either.” The two girls stare at each other for a second, then nod in unison. Neres summons me with a snap, and I hit the ground running.

In the second it had taken for the two girls to process that I was moving, I had my arms wrapped around Rika. I'm openly sobbing at this point. I manage to sputter out, “You—you were dead!” Rika’s arms wrap around me after a few moments, and I can hear her sniffling. “I missed you, little brother,” She whispers.

After a few minutes of crying, I finally pull away and look back at Neres. She looks a little conflicted, like she doesn’t know how to feel. I walk over to her and stand at her side, then turn to face Rika.

“So how did you avoid dying,” I ask, still a little emotional at the fact that Rika is alive. Rika sighs a little. “Before that, I should show you this.” Rika snaps her fingers, and a wisp of pure darkness spills from her fingers.

The wisp suddenly expands like a balloon, before stretching and shifting to form the shape of a human. The shadows retract, starting from the feet and flowing up toward the head, but stopping at the hairline, shadowy hair sitting in curls. My jaw drops. “Laura?”

The shadow familiar, because there isn’t anything else she could be, looks at me in shock. “Kalas?” We stare at each other for a few minutes, because what else are we supposed to do but be stunned? Rika snaps us out of it with a small fake cough.

“We should probably start explaining things.” Laura nods, and walks over toward the trees. We all follow, and end up in a grove a fair distance away from the road. Rika flops down onto the grass, and I follow her lead. Laura and Neres lie down next to us.

“So I guess we should start with the crash,” Rika says. “While we were driving, we got hit. But it wasn’t by another car.”

“Selcir,” Neres says. Rika nods beside me. “Yeah. Selcir. The car was flung off the road, but neither of us got hurt. I ripped off my seatbelt and jumped out the windshield to fight her.” 

Laura picks up the story. “I managed to get out of the car, but didn’t get very far before Selcir brought the fight to me. She tried to hit me with a whip of acid, and I wished I had some kind of armor to protect me. I didn’t get it. Her whip slammed right into my stomach, then flicked upwards from the momentum. The next thing I remember is waking up inside Rika’s storage space.”

“Wow,” I say, “you just jumped to your girlfriend, huh? Too bad.” Rika turns her head to look at me. “What do you mean by that?” “I got to fight her a little before I got pulled to Neres.”

Laura huffs in irritation. “Lucky brat.” I laugh a little at that. “Anyway,” Rika cuts in, pulling us back to the main topic. “After Laura died, I kind of went rage blind. I think I blew up the car a little bit, I don’t really remember. Anyway, Selcir eventually ran off. I looked around for Laura, but couldn’t find a body.” Rika winces at the memories. “I may have panicked a little.”

Laura chuckles. “A little? You went ballistic.” Rika flushes a little in embarrassment. “You shut your pretty mouth,” she scolds. Laura grins and says, “Why don’t you shut it for me?” Rika huffs and swats at Laura’s arm, but leans over and kisses her cheek.

“Anyway,” Rika continues as though she hadn’t been interrupted, “I freaked out and ran around looking for any sign of her for a good ten minutes before I ran out of hope. I fell to the ground and started crying. Since I had stopped running around, Laura came out. I thought I was hallucinating until she kissed me.”

I let out a small “aww” at that. Neres shushes me.

“Then the portal opened up, and we fell here. That was—” “About a year ago,” I cut in. Rika blinks at me in surprise. I’ve never interrupted her so sharply before. “Yeah,” she continues, “we’ve been here ever since.”

I feel bitterness rear its ugly head. She was just here the whole time while we had to weep at her grave? I make a snap decision and warp Home.

I stride over to the master control system and quickly place an empty room in the space where my mind hall used to be. I stomp over and slam the door as I walk to the middle of the room.

I stand there for a second, and then I _SCREAM_. Flames surge out from my body uncontrollably as I release all of my grief and pain. I don't know how long I rage for, but eventually I burn myself out. I lie down on the floor and, for the first time since I died, I pass out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. There ya go.
> 
> Scream in the comments if you don't like me.
> 
> Or if you do. I don't tell you how to live your life.


	9. The Plot Chickens...Pigs...Both?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After my temper tantrum, I take on the position of night watch again.
> 
> This does not go as peacefully as usual, and draws me into a quest.
> 
> As if things weren't already complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if this chapter seems rushed. Honestly, I've been writing during my down time as I get used to my new job.
> 
> Also, some plot stuff starts to get rolling. But not too much, because planning is overrated.

I wake up sometime later. I feel really tired, but I've been unconscious for long enough. I heave myself upright and trudge out of the room, vaguely noticing the scorch marks on the door. Something to think about later.

I head directly to the Real Screen and plop down on the couch. It seems to be night now. Neres is sleeping beneath a tree, wrapped up in a blanket that probably came from that sack of hers. Rika and Laura are curled up together, Rika hugging Laura like a teddy bear.

I'm pretty sure that Laura isn't actually asleep, because I don't think familiars need to sleep, and that smile is way too wide to be subconscious.

I decide that I want to take a different approach to night watch tonight, and head over to the exit room. I warp out, landing as silently as I can.

Laura's eyes open, but she closes them again when she sees that it's just me and cuddles into Rika's arms. I walk over to the tree Neres is sleeping under and lean against it, the fire of my hair providing enough light for me to see everything clearly.

After a long while, I notice part of the darkness that looks different from the rest of the forest. I keep my focus on it, and after a second it moves. Red eyes gleam in the firelight I give off. I stare whatever it is down as I gather flames underneath my right arm in preparation. Suddenly, it lunges, and I snap my arm out, sending a spike of solid flame right at it.

The strange beast takes the spike directly in its face, and screams in agony as I lunge forward, fire spilling from my body and forming a large sword. I hear the others scramble to get up as I bring the blade down, splitting it's skull in half.

The corpse hits the ground as the others finally get their bearings. "And this," I say, gesturing to the fresh corpse, "is why we always have someone on night watch." Having finished my one-liner, I dismiss the fire sword and turn to examine the body of whatever I just killed.

It looks like a wild boar, but with dog legs and, for some reason, feathers on its back. "Any of you know what the hell this thing is?" Neres walks up beside me. "No idea. It looks like a grotuk, but the feathers aren't supposed to be there."

Suddenly, something roars from the other side of the clearing and rushes at Laura. I build flames to shoot, but a lightning spear slams into the side of the creature's head and it falls to the ground, flailing uncontrollably as its life fades.

I look over to see Rika's arm outstretched, fury twitching on her face. “Nice shot, sis!” She glances over at me and nods, before going back to scanning the treeline, the end of her yellow hair lifting away from her shoulderblades as she subconsciously emits static electricity.

Laura walks over to her with a spring in her step. She leans in and pecks Rika on the cheek. “Thanks babe,” she says, and Rika blushes lightly before turning and capturing Laura’s lips with her own for a second. “No problem, sweetheart,” she says in a low voice as she draws back, and Laura turns red and squeaks.

Without warning, the shadows of her hair crawl down her body in seconds and abruptly burst, the streaks of darkness fading to reveal nothing there. So that’s what warping back home looks like. 

Rika composes herself and walks over to where we're standing. She joins myself and Neres in looking over the creature. “Yep,” Rika says, “definitely used to be a grotuk. Looks like we were on the right track.” 

Neres glances over at her. “What do you mean?” “I was sent out here to track down what was causing these mutations. Some people think that someone’s harnessed a new type of shard, or might be doing experiments on animals with a wind shard of some type.”

"Well,” I say, “we may as well talk about whatever the hell that means. Please remember that I know very little about this world.” Rika nods at me. “Let’s cook up the grotuk while we’re at it. Kalas, mind gathering up some good firewood?”

I shrug and nod. “Sure.” I walk over to the treeline where the second grotuk came from. Sure enough, its charge cut a path through the underbrush. I walk a few feet into the forest along this new path, and find a tree with a large gash in it. 

This tree is likely to die after that kind of exposure, so I form a large circular saw with my fire, and lower the temperature as much as I can. The saw spins at a thought, and I carefully cut until the tree falls away from me, with a little push from my fist. 

I take the cooled fire and rearrange it into large claws. I use these claws to pick up the fallen tree and make my way back to the girls. I walk into the clearing just in time to see Neres, blushing bright red, use a wave to knock Rika, who didn’t stop laughing, to the ground. 

Deciding that that's probably not something I want to get involved in, I drop the tree and summon a large blade of fire. I swing the blade and chop off a good section of the tree, then roll it over with the flat of the blade. I fashion the flames into a spear, knock the log over to lay flat, and slam the spear halfway into the log. I release the power keeping the fire solid, and direct the flames to infest the wood. 

Once I feel it catch on its own, I walk over to Neres and Rika, who have calmed down by this point. Neres uses water whips to assemble a spit from the surrounding area, and Rika spears one of the grotuk bodies and mounts it on the spit. After several minutes, Rika rips a piece off the legs with a lightning whip and bites into it. I take this as my cue to begin questioning her. 

“So,” I start, “you were sent out here. Who ordered you? And where did you get the information from?” 

Rika nods. “There is a guild based in Krolinth called Excavashard. They have extended offices in each kingdom, multiple in fact, but they’re based out of Krolinth."

"There are a few different factions you can apply for as a member of the guild. I’m part of what’s called the Questing faction. We take in requests from around the continent and have members go out to solve the problems or investigate the disturbances."

"The other well-known faction is the Excavation faction. They go out into the world and seek out naturally formed shards, and distribute them to people who want shards, but can’t get them due to the sheer dedication required. There are others, like treasury and trade routes and things, but those aren’t known by most people despite their importance.” 

Rika pauses to make sure I’m keeping up. This is all mostly straightforward, so I nod. “So there was a request for you to investigate these feathered boar things,” I say, and she nods. 

“Questers like myself get paid well, because our jobs put us in dangerous situations. We’re also well respected, since we put our lives on the line to make sure other people are safe. I’ve gotten out of having to tell people that Laura is a familiar by saying something about personal matters and asking people to respect my privacy.” 

Abruptly, Rika’s expression becomes grim. “Of course, not all of us are so good. Some abuse their positions, trying to extort people with the threat of force. Those have to be hunted down and brought before judges. Few come quietly."

"Some refuse to be taken alive.” 

Rika shakes her head, like she needs to physically fling the thoughts from her mind. “Anyway,” she continues, “it’s a good living for someone like me. With Laura and my power combined, I'm able to take on missions that have higher rewards.” Neres nods and asks, “So why are you out here? What’s the mission?” 

Rika turns to her with a nod as Neres uses a water whip to rip off a piece of the grotuk's flank. “As you can see, these grotuks have feathers. We’ve been sent out here to find out why. We’ve been tracking these sightings for a few days now, and I think we’re getting close to the source. It should be a couple of days North of here.” Neres nods and stands up. "Well, we better get going."

"We?" Rika seems genuinely confused. "What do you mean we?" 

I catch on quickly to the idea. "Oh please sis," I say. "Do you really think you're going to get rid of us that easily?" Rika looks at the two of us in shock. "Are you two sure about this?"

I roll my eyes. "When have I ever bothered to be sure about something before doing it?" Rika snorts and turns to Neres. "What about you? Have you thought this through?" Neres grins. "Not at all, but that's never stopped me before." 

Laura appears in a burst of shadows. "It will be really dangerous."

"Oh please," I say, "I've died before. This won't be much more dangerous." "Besides," Neres says, pointing east, "It's sunrise. We should get moving." Rika stares at us in shock for a second, then laughs. "I should've known this wouldn't turn out any other way. All right." Rika stands up, Laura and I doing the same. I walk to Neres' left side as Rika walks to her right, Laura to the right of Rika. Rika's eyes almost flash with anticipation.

"Let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to comment! Positive feedback is always appreciated.
> 
> Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to pass the fuck out.


	10. Historical Inaccuracies Come Back to Bite Us in the Ass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our hunt comes to fruition, but not without consequences.
> 
> It seems that there are developments in this world that Rika forgot to mention, and that just so happens to be something very important.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Black Friday actually proved useful to me, and the capitalism gods have granted me a new Chromebook! Writing is actually kind of easier now, if only because the Chromebook doesn't have much else to do on it.
> 
> Anyway, I managed to get another one of these out. Part of this chapter was completely spontaneous, and now I have to plan around that.
> 
> Hope you like it!

I put out the fire with a thought. Neres and Rika take pieces of meat from the grotuk and stash them in a bag that Rika pulled out of her pocket. As the sun rises higher, our group of four heads into the forest. Neres snaps her fingers, and I fall into the warp. I stride into the Commons and head to the Real Screen, flopping down on a couch to watch.

Neres and Rika nod to each other, then start off through the forest at a slightly faster pace than before. Power walking or something, I guess. Laura is also missing from my view, so she must have been sent back as well. There really isn’t any sort of path through the trees, so they weave between the forest as they move forward. 

I space out eventually, and only snap out of it when Neres summons me. “Sorry,” I say as I shake my head, “I was spacing out. What’s up?” Rika barely manages to hold back a laugh. Neres just rolls her eyes, though the smile on her face lets me know I’m not in any real trouble. “You’re on campfire duty tonight,” she says, and I nod.

Neres and Rika lay out their bedrolls, Laura appears and snuggles in with Rika, and I sit down between the two and surround myself with fire. While they fall asleep, I keep my eyes on the forest around us for any threats. Nothing happens for a while, but suddenly my body feels like it’s struggling to stay together.

Without warning, I’m pulled into the warp and find myself on the floor of the exit room. Right, I forgot about the time limit. I head into the Commons and take up my watch through the Real Screen. Nothing happens until the three start to wake up, and I head to the exit room and warp out. 

Laura is trying to pull Rika back into the bedroll, with little success. Rika shakes her head and kisses Laura on the nose. The shadow familiar blinks and blushes, and Rika uses the distraction to pull her up. Laura pouts at the end of any chance of cuddling, and Rika chuckles before pulling her girlfriend into a kiss. 

I look over at Neres, who is finishing rolling up her bedroll. She stands, hefting her bag, and looks over at the other girls before moving her eyes to me. She gives a soft smile and walks over to me, resting her chin on my shoulder and humming a sleepy “good morning”. I smile and lightly bump my head against hers. “Good morning,” I say softly, and she hums in acknowledgement. We stand like that for a few minutes, then hear a muffled noise from the direction of the other girls. 

I look over to see Rika’s head near Laura’s neck, and Laura blushing bright red while looking at us. I roll my eyes and shrug my shoulder lightly, signaling Neres to let me move again. She just hums sleepily and bumps her head into mine. Guess I’m not going anywhere until she wakes up more. Laura fails to suppress her next noise of pleasure, and I take that as my cue to get things back on track. 

“Ok Rika, we get that you love your girlfriend, but we should really get going.” Rika pulls back and looks at me, then blushes bright red. Guess she forgot we were here. She squeaks and hides her face in Laura’s shoulder. I can’t help laughing, and Neres backs away from me slightly, laughing as well. 

After a minute, Rika collects herself and shoots a small bolt at me, shocking me back to attention. “If you two are done, we have something to investigate.” I stick out my tongue at her, but warp back home. Dropping onto the couch, I watch as Neres and Rika continue through the woods. 

I see something move in the foliage, but whatever it is runs away before I could get a good look. I guess nothing in this part of the forest is as eager to fight as the grotuk were. The two girls continue on for a while before suddenly stopping. They glance over at each other, and Rika points upward. 

Neres nods, and Rika launches herself into the trees with some kind of lightning spell. Neres crouches down, using the shrubbery to hide herself, and begins to move forward slowly. After what was probably only a few minutes of sneaking, despite it feeling like hours, I see a clearing through the trees. 

The clearing is partially filled with cages made entirely of rock, with a few grotuks left in them. As we watch, one of the cages lifts up, the grotuk within squealing in panic. It floats over to another part of the clearing and sets down, and oh god that’s a lot of blood. The grass is stained red, and bones are scattered around the area. 

A person walks up to the cage holding a staff of some kind. I get off the couch and walk closer to the screen to see better, and yes, that is a shard on the end of the staff. I wasn’t aware that was a thing that could be done, but as I watch strange lines and runes begin to glow a golden brown color along the staff. The shard glows, and the guy points it at the grotuk in the cage. 

A beam of light shoots from the shard, and the grotuk screams in pain as it’s hit. It thrashes and slams into the bars of its cage, screaming nonstop. Neres and I can only watch in horror as the grotuk glows for a second, then stops moving. Abruptly, its back explodes in a shower of flesh and blood. 

I dimly note that the carcass has feathers around where its back used to be. 

The guy just huffs and the cage floats for a second, before flying off and breaking as it hits the ground. The carcass rolls for a few seconds before coming to a stop. Neres stares at it for a second, then focuses back on the dude. Water flows around her arm, then raises slightly and forms an arrow. 

Before she can take aim, Rika drops next to her and grips Neres’ shoulder tightly. Neres turns to look at her, and Rika shakes her head. The water arrow loses form, and the water lowers to the ground. Rika releases her grip on Neres, and suddenly steps into the clearing. “What the heck was that,” Rika calls out to the guy. He drops the staff, startled, but quickly recovers his senses. 

He looks at her for a second in confusion, before his expression abruptly turns angry. “No, you’re just like all the others!” He thrusts his hands out, and spikes of earth surge up from the ground and shoot toward Rika. She dodges them easily, and a bolt of electricity fires from her hand. A rock leaps up to intercept the bolt, but Rika is already running forward. The guy shoots the rock at her, raving about “no one understands my genius” or something, but she moves out of the way easily. 

Without warning, an arrow of water flies into the battlefield. Neres must have shot it while I was watching Rika. It flies at the guy, and slams into him, piercing his lung. He coughs in shock, taken completely by surprise, and falls to one knee. Neres stands from her hiding spot and walks toward the guy. His eyes snap up at her appearance, and a spike of rock lurches up from the ground and rushes toward her. Neres sidesteps casually, another arrow of water lancing from her hand and piercing the guy’s leg. 

Suddenly, Rika leaps in and grabs the guy’s head. Electricity crackles down her arm and into the guy’s body. He spasms for a few seconds, then drops limp. Neres walks over as Rika picks up the staff. Rika starts looking around, but stops when Neres asks, “What the hell is that staff? Did it channel magic?” Rika looks confused for a second, then her eyes widen. “Right, you don’t know about that yet.” 

Neres folds her arms. “What are you talking about?” Rika just shakes her head. “Tell you later. Right now I need to complete the investigation. Give me a minute or two.” Rika starts walking around the clearing, Neres following her. The two find a place that looks like the guy was using as a living space. Rika digs around while Neres stays back. Rika takes off her bag and digs around for a second, pulling out an extra bag. She goes around putting things into the new bag, books and strange carving tools among other things. She stands up, tying the bag and using a net of lightning to keep the bags on her back. “Neres, could you get the cages?” 

“Sure,” Neres responds, turning toward the earth cages that still had grotuks in them. She forms a warhammer out of water and throws it, directing it to smash through the cage bars and letting the animals run free. The grotuks immediately flee into the forest. Rika starts walking back toward where we came from, and Neres quickly follows. “So what the hell is with that stick?” 

Rika nods, not looking away from the path. “So, a few years ago, an Excavation team stumbled upon some ruins while digging for shards.” “Ruins,” Neres exclaims. “How? I didn’t know there was any civilization here before us!” 

“Yeah, they were surprised too. Everyone was, really.” Rika shook her head slightly and got back to her story. “So they found some ruins, and decided to investigate. They found a lot of weird writing and artifacts, but didn’t know what to do about it. So they called in some help from Rentespik, a scholar squad. The scholars discovered that the writing on the walls were some kind of alphabet or thesaurus, while the writing on the artifacts were some kind of power inscription, allowing people to channel the magic of whatever shard was planted into the artifact. They managed to translate the entire language of power and how to use it from their own knowledge and what they found in the ruins.” 

“So, what,” Neres says, “There’s just suddenly magic script now?” 

Rika shrugs. “Pretty much. You have to channel magic through the script to get the artifact to work, though. And if you don’t write the script properly, things tend to go wrong instead of just not working. The scholar team nearly lost someone that way.” “Wow,” Neres says, “That sounds pretty risky.” “Lots of things are, if you don’t learn the rules,” Rika responds. 

“This guy had one of the mass-produced rule books for how not to blow yourself up in his shelter, so he probably thought he knew what he was doing. Lots of people make that mistake. It usually doesn’t get anyone killed, but it’s still not quite safe.” 

No kidding, I think, remembering the pained screams of the grotuk. If that’s what experimenting with making your own artifacts did, I wasn’t surprised that people like Rika got dispatched to deal with them. “Wow. Anything else I should know about this,” Neres asked. 

“Well, it’s not just artifacts. Apparently there were some carved records of ritual circles or something. Stuff that wasn’t just for shard activation, but changing people in ways that shards can’t. I think there was an allegiance ritual, a marriage ritual, and some kind of space distortion ritual.” Neres almost falls over at that. “I’m sorry, but did you say permanent changes that are beyond the capabilities of shard magic? How is that not illegal?” 

“Well,” Rika says, “they’re not easy to do, so it would be really difficult to do one without someone knowing. The first two mostly affect people’s souls, binding them together in specific ways. I don’t think the third one was actually applicable to people. So, that’s probably why it isn’t outlawed.” 

“Unbelievable. And no one has a problem with this?” Rika glances over at her. “Well, the ability to make use of healing shards without having to wait for someone to be able to use it probably helped with that.” Neres stumbles a little at that. “Wait, really?” Rika nods, and Neres mutters, “Yeah, that’ll do it.” 

The two fall silent for a while, until they find a clearing and notice that the sky is getting dark. They begin to set out their bedrolls, and Neres summons me with a snap. I walk over and lean on a tree at the edge of the clearing, but Neres calls me over to where she and Rika have set up for the night. 

“What’s up,” I ask as I arrive next to where Neres is lying down. “You’re not going to leave me here to be cold all night, are you,” Neres asks in a teasing tone. I look away in embarrassment, but decide to try and meet her flirting with my own this time. I sit down next to her, which is probably all that she expected, but then I lie down and shuffle backwards until I feel my back press against the bedroll. 

Neres gives a little squeak, but moves around so that her face is toward my back. Eventually, her breathing evens out, and I allow myself to space out. It feels like a long time of doing nothing, but eventually I start to feel sleep slowly creeping over me. Apparently familiars can sleep, and I slowly drift off listening to Neres’ breathing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah. Artifacts. Still trying to come up with something else to call them. Also a past civilization that I did not plan to appear at all. So yay for me, I guess.
> 
> Feel free to comment and tell me how I could improve, or send your suggestions. Feedback is always appreciated.
> 
> See you all next update!

**Author's Note:**

> Why am I publishing this? I know I'll just burn myself out and abandon it later.
> 
> Anyway, there is no update schedule. I don't even know how I came up with this, let alone how long I'll manage to keep the idea.


End file.
